I'm going to have to go pretty recent on this one. Recreating the cover for Avengers: The Initiative #1, issue #15 (in the thick of the Secret Invasion) now has all the heroes as skrulls. The villains haven't just won, they've completely taken over. Sweet mama's sassafrass!

Rob's Post of Choice - Villain getting upper hand

Ok, here it is in a nutshell...

When I read about this weeks post the first hero that jumped to my mind was Spidey. Has any other hero (in the history of superhero comics) ever been shown getting the crap kicked out of him more than our dear friend Peter Parker... on the cover of his own comic books no less. As a child I was never a big fan of Amazing Spider-Man because I liked my heroes a bit more, well, heroic. It just seemed that Peter Parker was never going to come out on top... EVER. Everyone beat him up, and even when he would prevail as Spider-Man, then something tragic would happen to his Peter Parker alter ego. This guy could never catch a break. Those sadistic writers could be extremely Machiavellian in their plots to take down our beloved web-slinger. Which is probably the reason why he is one of the most popular characters in comics today.

While I have to give a nod to Amazing Spider-Man #293 (what I believe to be the greatest "Villain Triumphant" storyline of all time... "Fearful Symmetry") I honestly have to pick a classic Spider-Man/Venom confrontation as my favorite cover. Venom has to be one the greatest Spider-Man villains ever conceived, and no one exemplified this classic Spidey/Anti-Spidey confrontation better than Todd McFarlane.

So here it is... Amazing Spider-Man# 316.

Until a later date,

Rob

Life Happens. . . 9/11/08 - 9/20/08

Hello everyone,

Sorry all for the long delay. It has been almost a killer couple of weeks that have hindered any progress on the site. I hope you're all still interested because I have some treats coming up with interviews among working professionals in the comic industry discussing their comic memories, what comic covers they favor, as well as pieces of their work and where it can be seen.

Summation of delay: Anniversary, hit and run (victim), baby 1st birthday, quit job, got new job. Any questions? Let's get this week's cover challenge underway!

This week's challenge is:

Post your favorite cover featuring a villain getting the upper hand!

There are a myriad of choices and genres this bleeds into. If the villain actually gets the upper hand in the book, that would be great too!

I can be contacted at merbou77@yahoo.com if you need to get a hold of me.

Enjoy!

Alright... now your talking my language! - Rob

As someone who grew up on the classic Bantam (pulp reprint) paperbacks of Kenneth Robeson's Doc Savage, I have an especially warm place in my heart for the Man of Bronze. I used to read these books like most kids read the Hardy Boys growing up, and there were more to choose from! Unfortunately in the field of actual comic books there's not much to choose from out there. Gold Key (in the 1960's) was the first to do a Doc Savage comic book and it only lasted one issue. Then Marvel's short lived magazine (followed by the comic book) series in the (70's) with two comic issues crossing over into Marvel Two in One and Giant Size Spiderman. Skylark's one issue in 1979 is hardly worth mentioning (and even harder to find... I'm stilling missing it). DC gave it a go in the 1980's with a futile attempt to update the character into the modern world (Doc's son & Grandson) before bringing back the classic (original) Doc. Millennium Press had the rights through the 90's and unleashed some promising comics that never made it anywhere due to delays between issues and low print runs. Then Dark Horse did an excellent 4 issue series and a crossover with the Shadow (after they had revitalized that franchise as well). Sadly there has been nothing done since then.

The classic Bama covers are the one's that I enjoy the most, unfortunately they are not available on any of the comic books.

The notable exceptions being Bama inspired covers on Gold Key and Marvel's Doc Savage magazine from the 70's. Steranko and Kane did some excellent covers on the Marvel series and Kubert did some classics for the DC comics. Stelfreeze did extremely stylized Art Deco stuff on the Millennium runs, and there were some incredible covers that hearkened back to the original pulps of the 1940's on the Dark horse stuff. In terms of composition and style I have to say that I am waxing nostalgic with this one...

Happy 75th Doc!

Rob

Comic Con 2008 - but I was in Mexico

Hello all,

Sorry for the delay in this week's topic / challenge. I just got back from a lengthy trip to Mexico with the family and only saw one computer that was running Windows '98 so I thought, umm. . . I'll wait to get back to catch up.

If any of you have any particular experiences at this year's Comic-con, I invite you to share them, whatever they may be, so we can live vicariously through your eyes.

This week's challenge is based on one of the themes at this years Comic-con.

What is your favorite Doc Savage cover! The man of bronze turned 75 this year and his early painted covers landed an iconic image. These covers really facilitated a different technique in order to capture the feeling of the noir series.

Enjoy!

Adam Hughes!?! No Wonder!

Here's my official submission for the cover of the week - Adam Hughes. Wonder Woman 184. If only Hughes drew the interior. (I understand he's drawing a Wonder Woman book and it won't be released until the run is finished so we'll have to do with this for now.)

This cover not only demonstrates the skills Adam possesses, but it's a testament to his creative take on the story. This actually happens in this book! (Though Hughes took some liberties with the interpretation and art style.) Wonder Woman finds herself trapped in the past after following a portal which led her to an alternate history where her mother is actually Wonder Woman. She, (the original Wonder Woman), disguises herself as Miss America and helps her mother thwart the Nazis.

Hughes' take on this cover is a metaphor of new finding old by re-creating a dilapidated issue of the Golden Age Wonder Woman to resemble the modern day Wonder Woman's mother. The fact he draws it style for style with how she looked in the Golden Age mixed with his take of today's Wonder Woman is an excellent juxtaposition. It also allows us to see just how far she's come. The surrounding Nazis are done in 30s fashion and the very human expressions seals the deal for my favorite Adam Hughes cover.

Enjoy!

UPGRADE!

Hello all!

As an upgrade to the site, I'm beginning to put together a questionnaire / interview for professionals to tell us what they like to see in a cover. They will talk about their favorite covers, and discuss what they believe makes a book jump off the shelf.

Please leave comments as to what questions you think should go in the interview and I'll pool the results putting together them together. Also, please leave comments as to who you would be interested in seeing a cover interview with!

LET'S DO THIS THING!

I'll post these interviews amidst the weekly challenges so we can tie them together with who is being interviewed!

Hughes submissions will carry through to the end of this week.

ENJOY!